Barcelona book semi-final berth despite Dortmund's gallant battle
It was a gallant effort. A brave performance and stayed true to the demand required of a Ruhrpott club by it's fans. But ultimately Borussia Dortmund bowed out at the Champions League's last-eight stage at the hands of Barcelona tonight. While Niko Kovač's men battled to a 3-1 victory, the first-leg damage was to considerable as Barcelona advance 5-3 on aggregate.
The visitors started with possession but it was a nervous start in truth as Dortmund took the game to the Catalans. Serhou Guirassy could have turned home in the 6th-minute if not for Cubarsí's vital intervention. However, BVB received that vital lifeline with the next attack as Wojciech Szczesny brought down Pascal Groß. Guirassy remained ice-cool to dink his penalty down the middle.
Groß himself availed of Barca's high defensive line shortly after and clipped it past Szczesny. The veteran midfielder refrained from celebrating and wisely so as the offside flag was raised. Aside from a Fermin Lopez chance that was latter ruled offside too, Barca offered little to no threat in the direction of Gregor Kobel's goal.
Its only natural that the rampant pace of this game would eventually cool down and become more pedestrian. After conceding a free-kick on the edge of the box, Groß found the head of Maxi Beier who could only guide it into Szczesny's grasp. The Polish shot-stopper was called into action again to smother an Adeyemi rocket, while at the other end Jules Koundé almost snuck in to equalise before the break.
Die Schwarzgelben resumed where they left off after the interval with Adeyemi forcing yet another parry out of Szczesny. The scoreboard quickly read 2-0 after the resulting corner as Rami Bensebaini re-directed the ball to Guirassy for his second of the night. However, Barca punched back immediately to restore order - Fermin Lopez's cross turned into his own net by the unfortunate Bensebaini.
Hansi Flick's side finally eased into the occasion since rattling the BVB net. It was the Catalans who looked more likely to score all of a sudden as Fermin Lopez blazed over after some superb awareness from Lamine Yamal who let the ball run. Niko Kovač reacted by introducing Gio Reyna and Julien Duranville to the attack.
The Belgian youngster reignited some life into the tie late on with around quarter of an hour remaining. Skipping past the challenges, Duranville's cross rebounded off Araujo and into the path of Guirassy. The Guinean marksman rifled it to the roof of the net to ensure his hattrick. Julian Brandt came off the bench and thought he cut the deficit to a solitary goal - not for the first time the linesman's flag spared Barcelona from jangling nerves.
